Terrible Teenagers Talking on the Train

Ah, the week prior to Christmas.

Finally!

At this time last year, when I was residing in London and taking the charming Northern Line to work everyday, I noticed a distinct plummet in the numbers of people squeezing themselves into moist, condensation-filled tube trains every morning. It seemed that the Christmas period had encouraged masses of people to take the last week before Christmas off work. As a result, the tubes were a fair bit quieter than average.

Consequently, I have anticipated seeing a similar outcome on the South West Train that I now take into work every morning.

More maths:
fewer people+quieter trains=happier sleeping me.

This is not the case. This morning, the train was crammed full of over-excited, adolescents and their hormones shouting and squealing, and generally talking at the tops of their lungs in a carriage full of people who really don’t deserve such an aural beating.

It is almost as if the Christmas period has had the reverse effect on teenagers. They are all turning up to school/college this week (probably because there is less work and more partying) and getting incredibly energised by it. I can’t understand why a collection of teens need to shriek at each other in the morning on the train. But there you go.

Perhaps this is the first sign of many that I am now, legitimately, a ‘grown-up’. It makes me cantankerous and grouchy to see these youngsters having fun in the morning. It annoys me. I wish they would just turn the volume down on their loudspeaker vocal chords and sit quietly in their seats, just as I do.

So, perhaps it is January I need to wait for in order to witness a slump in commuter numbers. In January, these teenagers may not feel quite as chipper in the mornings and, here’s praying, actually sit down and shut up.

Oh dear. I’m grumpy.

Saying that though, the office gossip this morning from Friday’s Christmas festivities have perked me up a little. You’ve got to love inappropriate behaviour amongst work colleagues haven’t you? Not me, that is. But witnessing it is extremely amusing indeed.

I also enjoyed a rather drunken ride home on the train on Friday evening after the party. On a lovely quiet train with no teenagers bawling at each other.

And I’m ashamed of it now, in the cold light of Monday morning, but on Friday night in my drunkenness, I even put my feet up on the seats…..